BJP to hold executive meet today, strategy for poll-bound states top agenda

The National Register of Citizens in Assam and the Citizens Amendment Bill will also come up for discussion as the party ups the ante on identity politics.

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) preparedness for upcoming assembly elections in five states is expected to feature prominently at a two-day meeting of the party’s national executive that begins on Saturday, a senior party leader said on condition of anonymity.

The upcoming Assembly elections in four states that will set the trend for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls are likely to figure prominently in the two-day BJP National Executive meet beginning in Delhi on Saturday.(HT File Photo)

This will be the first meeting of the party’s highest decision-making body since the death of former prime minister Atal Bihar Vajpayee on August 16.

“The executive meeting will be dedicated to him (Vajpayee) and the party will reaffirm its commitment to follow the path shown by him,” party spokesman Syed Shahnawaz Husain said.

BJP president Amit Shah is expected to inaugurate the conclave on Saturday and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to make the closing remarks on Sunday.

A second BJP leader said,also on condition of anonymity, that during the meeting, there will be an “elaborate discussion” on the party’s plans for assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and Telangana, where chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Thursday dissolved the legislature to pave the way for early polls . Rao had wanted the polls to be held together with elections in the other four states, due in November-December.

“We are serious about contesting election in Telangana. There will be separate discussions on each of these states,” the leader said.

The Election Commission (EC) will first take stock of poll preparations in Telangana from the state chief electoral officer and then decide when to hold the elections, chief election commissioner O.P. Rawat said. The EC has six months to complete the polling process in a state starting from the date of dissolution of the assembly.

The second leader quoted above added that they would also take up resolutions on a range of issues such as the falling value of rupee and the rising prices of petrol and diesel. The Opposition parties are keen to use these issues to corner the government and the Congress has made price rise one of its key planks against the government.

“The resolutions will reiterate its (Centre’s) commitment to the welfare of the socially marginalised communities and (highlight) the economic progress that the country had made despite strong headwinds,” the leader said.

While there have been some concern about the protest from anti-reservation bodies in a few states, the BJP is likely to do a balancing act by committing itself to the idea of ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’ (collective efforts, inclusive growth), party insiders said.

The national executive meeting will be preceded by a separate closed-door deliberation of BJP’s national office bearers and state presidents on Saturday morning.